I guess this means the end of NISA/Aksys doing IF games? I must say I'm a little surprised by this. I didn't think IF games had enough presence internationally to justify their own localization branch. Though I guess Neptunia is actually quite popular...

This also kind of puts NISA in a weird spot. IF probably had their second-best selling titles after their own Disgaea series. Plus they're no longer localizing for Gust after Tecmo Koei bought them, meaning they might actually be coming up short on games to localize. Or maybe they'll make some new contracts. I know I'd like to see more titles from Spike, Acquire, or even smaller studios like FuRyu (they did Unchained Blades and are currently working on Exstreta).

This sounds very meh to me. I mean I love the Record of Agarest War series (for concept more than anything else, although I will call 2 a good game), but most of the rest of the stuff Idea Factory comes out with ranges from meh to crap imo. I mostly get their stuff to support NISA (who I love). If they drop NISA I really am not sure I will be bothering to get their stuff anymore beyond any currently unannounced Record of Agarest War stuff.

This sounds very meh to me. I mean I love the Record of Agarest War series (for concept more than anything else, although I will call 2 a good game), but most of the rest of the stuff Idea Factory comes out with ranges from meh to crap imo. I mostly get their stuff to support NISA (who I love). If they drop NISA I really am not sure I will be bothering to get their stuff anymore beyond any currently unannounced Record of Agarest War stuff.

I actually think Idea Factory have really improved recently. They always had interesting ideas but unlike similar developers like STING, executed them horribly.

This sounds very meh to me. I mean I love the Record of Agarest War series (for concept more than anything else, although I will call 2 a good game), but most of the rest of the stuff Idea Factory comes out with ranges from meh to crap imo. I mostly get their stuff to support NISA (who I love). If they drop NISA I really am not sure I will be bothering to get their stuff anymore beyond any currently unannounced Record of Agarest War stuff.

I actually think Idea Factory have really improved recently. They always had interesting ideas but unlike similar developers like STING, executed them horribly.

Really? Last Idea Factory game I played was Mugen Souls. Game was freaking horrible. Game before Hyperdimensional Neptunia Mk2 which was meh. One before that was Agarest War 2 which was actually good. My graph of the quality of their games looks like they are going down (although I admit I don't remember if that is actually playing them in release order). I suppose Victory looks alright, but I do not have high hopes for the company at this point.

Really? Last Idea Factory game I played was Mugen Souls. Game was freaking horrible. Game before Hyperdimensional Neptunia Mk2 which was meh. One before that was Agarest War 2 which was actually good. My graph of the quality of their games looks like they are going down (although I admit I don't remember if that is actually playing them in release order). I suppose Victory looks alright, but I do not have high hopes for the company at this point.

I am not calling them a good developer. It just seems to me that they are moving away from being a bad developer into being a niche one. Most of the problems I have with them have less to do with their story and gameplay, and more to do with how they over complicate things like menus as well as the horribly horrible load times their old games had. Their games still have some of these issues but from what I have seen, nowhere near the extent of their old games.

Don't forget Hakuoki. That was Idea Factory and that game was not only a good Idea Factory game, but it was just a good game, period. It and Agarest War 2 are the only Idea Factory games I would deem as good. Even Mugen Souls, though I enjoyed it at E3, just has too many wonky and competing mechanics for its own good. Otherwise, that game would have been good; I especially loved the music.

Remember, Idea Factory is primarily a maker of VNs. The vast majority of which have not been localized. They seem to have a decent reputation with regards to VNs, though, so Hakuoki isn't as much as an anomaly as you might think.

Most of the "Idea Factory" games we've gotten in the west have been RPGs made by their Compile Heart label. And, well, I've said before what I think about Compile Heart...

If this venture meant more VNs will get localized then that's pretty cool.